How? Read on. 

This weekend a group of friends of mine and I decided that we should take advantage of our location and bike on over to France. Another group of IES Abroad students had taken the journey the previous weekend and we heard great things. Our plan was to meet in the morning and rent bikes for the day. The bikes were about 14 euros and were great quality. We all packed a picnic lunch and planned to sit near the Rhine and eat once we reached Breisach. It ended up being a beautiful day with abnormally high temperatures for November and tons of sun!

I think back to the time when I was packing up for my big trip and googling heaps of information on what to wear on an average day in New Zealand. At first I thought to myself… “How on earth am I going to put 5 months of outfits in one suitcase?!” I noticed many people had mentioned about rain, but I’m guessing that might have been during late summer or fall when the rain comes because Spring stayed pretty dry for the most part.

Morocco - lyrics

[Intro] (inspired by end credits to Anchorman)

Oh, I didn’t see you there, welcome!

This is JB again

I'm just checking in to make sure you’re having a good time with my songs

Welcome to my little lounge, make yourself comfortable

1. Research about the city and know more than the touristic center  

I can not be happier when

You’d think that I would have been familiar with Paris, it being one of the most well-known cities in the world. I mean I thought I knew about Paris, with its Eiffel and its Notre Dame and its Arc and its Louvre and its fashion and its food. Before I went, I definitely would have said I knew Paris as well as someone could without having been there. But then I actually went to Paris…

Last year, around this time, my favorite purse broke. It was a grey leather bag that slung over my shoulder and ended level with my left hip. I found the bag, on sale, for $15.00 during my freshman year of high school and to this day I still consider it one of the best purchases I've ever made.  It wasn't obnoxious in size, but it could hold more than it looked; it was neutral enough in color and went with everything and since I could wear it over my shoulder, I never had to worry about leaving it behind.

I've been proud of myself for taking this experience a day at a time. Usually, it's quite easy for me to get caught up in the flurry of being busy; to live in the moment is a process of constantly reminding myself to do so. However, I promised myself that I only had four months here, and that I would take each day as it came. 

That is, perhaps, one of the things I am most grateful for: living in the moment; being grateful for each day that comes.